March Tahoe Trip with Friends

The first weekend in March five families converged at Northstar -- us, the Pao/Lins, the Yangs, the Yaus, and the Yungs. The Pao/Lins stayed with us at the Hyatt. The Yaus and the Yangs shared a Ski Trail condo off the Village Run. And the Yungs with Joyce's mom in tow stayed in another condo.

Maile came down with a fever and spent most of the day Saturday watching TV. Rich took Zoe and Hannah out skiing while Al took Zachary out. And I took Beck out with a hula hoop in tow. In line for one of the lifts, I ran into Rich's cousin, Aimee. On our way down I saw the small magic carpet by the Ritz Carlton. We had already passed it when I noticed it, so we had to walk uphill a little on skis to get to it. It's a great little magic carpet because hardly anyone uses it and it's on a part of the run where there are not a lot of people. Our first run off that magic carpet I felt Beck finally got the wedge.

When we returned back to the Hyatt, most of the group was gathered on the top of the ski-in slope of the Hyatt.

That evening we had everyone over for dinner. It was fun and definitely lively with all the kids. Here's everyone's favorite Auntie playing a slap game with the kids.

That night Maile had a night terror that I think was brought on by all the TV watching, in particular Spongebob Squarepants. I have never been a fan of Spongebob. It might be fun, but I can't get passed the drawing style.

Before we headed home, Beck showed Hansel some of his ski moves, and the kids got in some more play time in the snow.

Below are a couple of photos from Sunday morning.

Kinect Dance Central

Maile and Beck don't play Kinect Dance Central that much. I think because beyond Poker Face's easy dance the dances are still too hard for them, but Mathis seems to like that game. I think it's the music. Below are some photos from the beginning of March of Mathis busting some moves and a couple with Beck.

I had a clearer pic like the above but I love the expression here more.

2/26 GNO and Leilani's Baby Sprinkle

We had a Girls' Night Out planned for 2/26. Since Leilani did not want a full-blown shower for baby #3, we used the occasion as an opportunity to celebrate her impending babydom. Margie hooked us up with the chef's table at 5A5 (http://www.5a5stk.com/). It's a super swanky steakhouse lounge started by Steve Chen (SF's Asian Social King, my words not his), and in which Margie has a small piece of the action (the restaurant not Steve).

To get there most of us met up at Margie's place in San Mateo, and then I drove us up in the swagger wagon. We thought it'd be funny to drive up to the door in the minivan and valet, but we went with a primo street parking only a half block away.

We let Margie to the ordering. Even though it's a steakhouse, I had plenty to enjoy. I especially remember the hamachi shooters. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about shooting it and gagging, but everything made it down.

For the baby sprinkle part, Vicki made some super cute bunny cake pops. Yes, made. She made enough for everyone's kids. I was tempted to eat Mathis' but I settled on a bite. And Lei got a couple of presents or I should say the baby did.

It was great to get out and to see everyone, esp Ann, whom I hadn't seen since her baby shower in late July for her twin girls.

Here's a photo of the kids eating the cake pops the next day.

February Tahoe Trip

Maile's school gets the Thursday and Friday before Presidents' Day off. So we booked our Northstar timeshare for that Wed and Thurs night. We left around 3p and got there in 4.5 hrs even with snowfall and a stop at the Safeway in Truckee. Hansel, having grown up in Iowa, can handle driving in the snow better than I. Although, he did fishtail a little a couple of times.

Hyatt needed to use our unit for part of a party of nine, so they bumped us up to a 3-bedroom, which has two master suites. We tried to convince a couple of people to play hooky from work and stay with us, but no takers. So the extra bedroom suite went to waste.

It snowed a lot while we were there as you can see in the below photos.

The kids helped the ski valet clean off the snow on the fire pit and chairs.

They then showed off the fruits of their labor.

Thursday night we watched a movie at the Hyatt's theater room. The kids picked Open Season. Even though we had stayed at the Hyatt a handful of times already, this was our first time using the room. It was a nice treat.

 Before leaving Friday, Hansel and the big kids got in a good soak.

Lunar New Year Celebrations

While my mom and brother were in town, Beck's school had their Annual Lunar New Year Event. It includes class performances, silent auction, live auction, and a buffet lunch. This year I found out that we could get non-lunch tickets, which was a nice discovery. Last year the buffet took a while as is usually the case with buffets. Without going through that, we could get home at a reasonable time for Mathis to nap.

They had the silent auction items set up outside the hall. We bid on a week's worth of hot lunches and rock-climbing lessons for 3 kids. Hansel went back out close to the silent auction end time to check on the rock-climbing bids. He ended up raising our bid but still under the estimated value (we are cheap contributors). We ended up winning the lessons. Almost 3 months later, and we still haven't set up the lessons.

Even though it's the year of the rabbit, Beck's class did the story of the mouse bride, which is a Chinese Zodiac story, for their performance. The room parents made the cool visors and veils for the kids. 

Maile's class, as well as the other Mandarin-Immersion classes, performed for a school assembly. Maile's school has combined-grade classes, so Maile's class is made of up Kindergarteners and 1st graders. The Kindergarteners sat at the foot of the stage and sang (softly) while the 1st-graders danced with ribbons. I took Beck with me to watch before dropping him off at school.

The Kings Visit

My mom and brother were here during their Lunar New Year break. My mom came a week or so before Ed. We always eat well when she is here. All the kids love Ed because he really gets down and plays with them. Below are some photos from their visit.

In the first photo, Ed is holding up Mathis while Maile is grabbing the bottom of Ed's leg.

 

 

Random January Photos

First, a couple more photos from the January Tahoe trip.

Below is a family photo we took early in the month. Looks like all of us except for Hansel are watching the TV not the camera.

Before Christmas Maile only had shoes with velcro, a buckle, or slip on. So, she never needed to learn how to tie her shoes. But during Christmas break in DC, GrandMama bought Maile some light-up shoes with laces. So, below is a photo of Hansel teaching Maile how to tie a bow.

 During the month we watched a stick sculpture go up in front of the Palo Alto Art Center. We went to visit it a couple of times when it was almost done. Not only is it a cool-looking sculpture, but you can go in and out of it.